This application pertains to the art of dispensing frozen dessert products and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for vending frozen dessert products in consumer selectable quantities.
The invention is particularly applicable to vending apparatus for unmanned sale of refreshments to consumers in malls, places of business, public places or the like and will be described with particular reference thereto although it will be appreciated that the invention has broader applications such as chemical mixing operations such as blending predetermined portions of different paint colors or any other procedures which require automatic fluid dispensing in user-settable quantities.
Frozen dessert dispensing apparatus have heretofore required a full time on-site operator or sales person to manipulate the apparatus in order to dispense various quantities of the dessert into a separate carton or edible cone. This human resource burden is largely due to the primitive valving mechanisms typically employed in soft ice cream and yogurt dispensers. Those valves are in reality a simple gate mechanism operable in a first position to block the flow of the frozen dessert product from a bulk supply and in a second position to permit said flow through a conduit and toward a dispensing head. As illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,711,376 and 3,698,206, handles are typically connected directly to the gating mechanisms to provide a rather uncomplicated primitive dessert dispensing apparatus.
Devices of the type described above have become popular over the years but present two (2) major problems from a business perspective. First, an amount of human error is involved in determining the actual serving size. Although the various plastic and waxed containers used in connection with frozen dessert products of this type generally define a serving size, the actual precise amount of product served may vary. Oftentimes, product waste is involved or customers are over-served in the aggregate resulting in a business loss. Further, the costs associated with an on-site employee may be prohibitive. In certain settings, it is conceivable that insufficient demand exists for the soft frozen dessert products to warrant the expenditure of an operator's salary. In areas where sufficient demand exists, such as where a wide variety of products are sold at a common vending area such as a food court for example, the operator's time may be better served tending to the consumer's other needs rather than portioning frozen dessert products manually.
One solution is an automatic vending apparatus. These have been used in the past wherein a plurality of pre-packaged frozen dessert products such as ice cream bars or ice cream sandwiches are sold directly to consumers. One downside of this approach is that the consumers are presented only with predetermined quantity choices.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,840 describes an ice cream dispensing device which is capable of issuing various selectable quantities of the frozen dessert product from a bulk storage container. However, the apparatus described in that patent is somewhat limited in that only multiples of a predetermined minimum quantity may be served. This is due to the fact that a fixed measuring chamber is repeatedly completely filled then completely emptied into a cup or the like to portion out ice cream from the bulk supply. Desired portions which are not multiples of the complete chamber volume are not serviceable.
Another apparatus for dispensing measured quantities of a frozen dessert product is described in U.K. Pat. Appln. 2,230,057. There, a complicated mechanism including a ram, valve and cylinder cooperate with a duct to divide a bulk supply of frozen dessert product into predetermined portions. One drawback with this system is its complicated nature and resultant disassembly and cleaning difficulties. In addition, spoilage may result because a considerable amount of product residue remains in the ram, cylinder and duct mechanism between uses.
Accordingly, it is clear that a need exists for a frozen dessert dispensing apparatus which is easy to use, simple to clean and maintain and which is capable of dispensing selectable quantities of the dessert product from a bulk source. The present invention contemplates new and improved methods and apparatus for frozen dessert dispensing which overcomes all of the above-referred problems and others and provides an apparatus and control method for use therewith which is simple, economical and profitable.